SUMMER 2019

RISE & RECONNECT

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE LAZARUS HOUSE AND MARY & MARTHA HOUSE

The Miracle of Recovery in Community

A Place To Call Home

Youth Services System Inc.’s Lazarus House and Mary & Martha Housesober living homes were started by Shelley and the late Bill Rohrig to honor the memory of their son Mark who had struggled with depression and died after a fall. Our homes serve men and women ages 18 and older who are trying to get their lives back on track after treatment for substance use disorder. This is a residential, gender-spe-cific program. It is a place to call home, with as many of the comforts of home as possible within our means and budget.

Our dog, Millie, was missing for several hours recently. A whole day of scouring the woods and calling her name were in vain. We decided to put her picture

up on Facebook with a phone number and the number of the vet. Within 8 hours we knew where Millie was, safe and sound! It was all about the power of Commu-nity, how people gathered together, and inspired hope by their actions. Millie is home, the beloved therapy pet of us men here at Lazarus House (Not a registered therapy dog, Millie works freelance)!

As with Millie’s homecoming, it takes a community to bring us addicts home to recovery from the loneliness of addiction. As one writer wisely remarked, “The greatest challenge in life is to come home, and to be at home with ourselves. People really love us when they help us feel at home even in the awkwardness we sometimes feel in being who we are!”

You, along with Lazarus House and Mary & Martha House, provide the sense of community that brings us addicted men and women out of ourselves, while restor-ing us to those who love us and those we love. You have not stood on the sidelines of our lives here, but have ac-tively supported our homecoming and recovery. You are our Community! In that spirit, we once again ask your help in keeping this life-saving work going as it has for the past 13 years. I never cease to be happy and hum-bled when a recovering addicted man or woman says to me “You saved my life!” I am happy because they are fully alive, and humbled because that credit has to go to you, the community that makes the second chance possible. In this time of year, our Annual Appeal, we ask that help once again. If you cannot afford to send mon-ey, know that your petition to God from the altar of your loving heart will not go unheard. Thank you so much!

Love and prayers, The Community of Lazarus and Mary & Martha

Chicken or Spaghetti

Dinner 11:30-4:30 Sunday, Sept. 8

At the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling, 1610 Eoff St.

Drinks (iced tea, juice coffee, water) and desserts included

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YOUTH SERVICES SYSTEM INC.'S LAZARUS / MARY & MARTHA HOUSES

SEMI-ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

Chicken, Green Beans & Parsley Potatoes

$8 ADULTS $4 KIDS

Spaghetti & Meatballs,Coleslaw & Breadsticks

OR

Chicken or Spaghetti

Dinner

Donations to Lazarus House/Mary & Martha House

Enclosed is my gift for Lazarus House/Mary & Martha House:___$100___$50 ___$20 ___$10 ___Other amount Name:______________________________________________ If you wish your donation to be private, check here Address:____________________________________________________Email: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Please make checks payable to YSS, P.O. Box 6041, 87-15th Street, Wheeling, WV 26003.

Thank you and God bless you!

If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE to this mailing list, please email Pat Condron,

frpatanthony@msn.com.

DearFriends,

We need some desserts for this fundraising dinner. Will you make something sweet for the sweethearts?

~ Pat

Pat and Millie

I am a grateful, recovering drug addict. In some ways I feel as distant as an entire lifetime from the girl I used to be. I used everyone I came across, leaving a trail of destruction. Sometimes I was homeless. Sometimes hungry, but always hungry to feed my addiction.

September 25, 2017 was the last time I put a needle of meth or heroin in my body when I heard the jail door slam behind me. I was somewhat relieved. My fight was over. Don’t get me wrong, though. I tried to manipulate my way back out to those streets that I thought I loved and was willing to die for.

I used drugs for over 30 years. I was very good at masking pain and abuse, and I prayed for a miracle. The parole board thought it was in my best interest to serve 12 months and complete a substance abuse treatment program. Sitting in a cold cell and looking out a tiny window into the beautiful blue sky, I made the best decision I have ever made. I surrendered to my disease of addic-tion. I was broken, tired, and beat down.

I reached out to the Mary & Martha House, and was accepted as a resident.

On November 14, 2018 I was released from prison and arrived at the Mary & Martha House with nothing but the clothes on my back. I was welcomed into the home with open arms and lots of hugs. The donations from YSS and the house came in the form of everything I needed to start my new journey. That first night I was taken to my

first Narcotics Anonymous meeting. My prayers had been answered.

I currently have a full-time job, I was able to pay off fines, and get my driver’s license back.

To this day I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the Mary & Martha House and for Narcotics Anonymous. I have now been clean for 21 months. Every day I wake up and thank God for another day clean. Today my life is full of hope, and I no longer live in despair and shame. I am living proof that an addict can recover.

Miracles do happen! God bless!

I’m the current house manager for Lazarus House. I found myself homeless at 15, sleeping on friends’ couches and developing my addiction to pain pills, which led me to intravenous heroin use. I’ve taken to various drugs over the years that contributed to bringing me to my knees, but heroin kept me down in a hole.

I never thought I would escape and recover due to hav-ing no support or safe haven to heal. That is until I placed a call to Lazarus House.

A man named Pat answered, and after hearing my situation told me not to worry and that he would be along to collect me and my stuff in 10 minutes. Upon arriving I was welcomed with open arms and made to feel right at home. My recovery would not have been possible without Lazarus House, and to say I’m grateful would be a vast understatement.

House Manager Josh W. (R) with Mike S.

Hello! My name is Sommer Dawn.

House Manager Sommer Dawn (C) with other residents

Hello! My name is Joshua.

Methamphetamine is becoming a major problem in the Midwest and Western states according to a May 1, 2019 report on Na-tional Public Radio. At a recent addictions conference I attended at Harvard Medical School, one of the presenters shared a story about a presentation he had recently given in Wisconsin on heroin/opioid treatment, only to be told that the real problem they were facing there was the meth epidemic, not the heroin/opioid problem anymore. What a “downer” that was for him! (Get it?

“Downers”? “Uppers”? “All Arounders”? Nah?)

Treatment for heroin and opiod abuse (the painkillers) is getting much more attention in Washington and among health officials than methamphetamine addiction is getting at this time. Treatment for both meth and cocaine addiction lags way be-hind treatment for opioid/heroin treatment and alcoholism, both of which have three prescription medications for treatment. There are no FDA-approved medications

for meth/cocaine-related illnesses, which have similar characteristics (although meth “high” lasts much longer than crack cocaine).

Here at Lazarus House there were hardly any meth-addicted men or women over the years since we opened in 2006. However, the past 3 years have seen a sharp increase in the number of persons recovering from meth addiction. Visits to the ER, related to meth-induced psychosis (e.g. halluci-nations), have skyrocketed in recent years

according to the NPR article cited above. There has been a sharp increase in the number of meth-induced deaths in some cities, such as San Francisco, usually from brain hemorrhage or heart attack. They are more likely in persons over 55 (younger folks generally have better cardiovascular health).

Why do people do this to themselves? It seems there is a lot more loneliness in this country than in the past, and a lot more pain. (The U.S. consumes 80% of all the

pain medications [opioids] produced in the world today – does that tell you anything?)

One excellent study observed that the decline in community life through the loss of major industries in our cities/towns was coincident with the rise in recreational drug use.

Whatever the cause, Community is where recovery happens!

The abuse of different drugs is gener-ational and short-term “trendy.” Today it’s meth, 10 years ago it was heroin, and

so on back through the latter part of the 20th century (Remember the Barbiturates? Quaaludes? Black Beauties? No? Really, you’re all so young!). It’s like the trend from bell-bottoms to fitted jeans, or Afro hairstyles to “high and tight,” except it’s not that funny.

The good news: Medical science is mak-ing progress. And you? Be our community, because we are counting on you; and that really, really matters more than any medi-cation for addictive illness!

ADDICTION NEWS FROM PAT…

“What is my vocation? Where my own greatest joy meets the world’s deepest need — that’s where my vocation lies.” ~ Frederick Buechner

“ T h e w o u n d i s w h e r e t h e l i g h t g e t s i n . ” — R u m i